The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.
Psalm 121:5
Happy summer! Today at 6:34 pm EDT marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the first official day of summer. According to treehugger.com, “That’s the very moment when, essentially, the sun stands still at its northernmost point as seen from Earth. Its zenith doesn’t yearn north or south, but waits patiently at the Tropic of Cancer before switching directions and heading south again. This is where the word solstice comes from; the Latin solstitium, from sol (sun) and stitium (to stop).”
The weatherman says it’s going to be a scorcher, too, for most of the US. Record high temperatures are forecast for parts of our country.
In the south, it’s not so much the heat as it is the humidity. I love the summer weather when there’s a pool or beach nearby. Other than that, I love the air conditioning. Last week our family visited the zoo on a day when you could have fried an egg on the pavement. The animals who weren’t hiding from the heat were pretty lethargic, including the three that I had brought with me. Needless to say we were dragging ourselves from exhibit to exhibit trying to keep in the shade so we wouldn’t melt … or melt down.
Can you imagine the heat and having nowhere to hide? No shade to protect you? Revelation 20:11 says, And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide! Hebrews also tells us that nothing is hidden from God … He is the one to whom we are accountable.
Be encouraged! The Lord knows our dire situation and that we cannot stand on our own merits before Him. There is nowhere to hide. Because of His great love for us, He promises in Isaiah that He will provide shade for Mount Zion and all those who assemble there, a shelter from the daytime heat, a hiding place from storms. David calls the Lord His hiding place. Our hiding place is in the blood of the Lamb. When our lives are hidden with Christ in God we too are protected from the heat and storms of life and surrounded with His songs of victory. He has paid the penalty for our sins and when we put our faith in Him, we are placed in the shelter of the Most High, in the shadow of the Almighty. He is our protective shade from the scorching heat.
However you spend this wonderful, long, hot summer day I hope it begins and ends in praise to the only Son who can give us shade, the One who makes the sun stand still.